Autoconf 2.70 release status update as of 2020-11-02

It=E2=80=99s been five weeks since the release of autoconf 2.69c.  Many bug=
s
have been fixed, and I had hoped to be able to put out the final
release of 2.70 this week, but there are still some important bugs
that need to be fixed before we can do that.

(Testing is still very welcome, but I recommend you work from autoconf
git trunk - https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/autoconf.git - rather than
continuing to use 2.69c.  I can make another beta release if that would
be helpful.)

Here is my current list of issues that ideally would be addressed
before the release; for each, see
`https://savannah.gnu.org/support/?BUGNUMBER` for details.

 * Regressions
   * `AC_LANG_PUSH/AC_LANG_POP` malfunction inside AC_DEFUN (#110294)
   * `AX_PROG_CC_FOR_BUILD` broken with 2.69c (#110350)
   * `AC_INIT` quoting headaches (#110349)
   * Broken `AC_PROG_LEX` macro (#110312) (unreproducible)

 * Bugs also present in 2.69
   * Replace autom4te output file atomically (#110305)
     (Debian carries a patch for this, but their implementation is not
     ideal.)
   * Parallel autotest produces mangled output on Solaris 10 (#110354)
     (cosmetic; might not be fixable)

 * Highly desirable enhancements
   * Revise documentation of when configure enters cross-compilation
     mode (#110347)
   * Make it possible to request a specific (non-latest) version of a
     language standard from `AC_PROG_CC` etc (#110286)

At this stage I will only be accepting additions to this list if they
are regressions from 2.69.  If you discover, or already know of,
regressions from 2.69 that aren=E2=80=99t on this list, please **file issue=
s
in Savannah** for them.  It makes quite a bit of extra work for me if
I have to copy bug reports from email into Savannah.

(Please do also file issues in Savannah for any other bugs you find,
but make clear that it is not a regression and I=E2=80=99ll mark it as not
blocking 2.70.)

Unfortunately, as of this week, the funding I had to work on the 2.70
release has been completely used up.  I=E2=80=99m happy to continue as
volunteer release manager for 2.70, but I cannot promise to fix all of
these bugs myself using only unpaid hacking time.  I=E2=80=99m asking every=
one
reading this email to chip in and help with these bugs so the 2.70
release can be as good as possible.  In most cases, the problem is
clear and we just need to develop and test the fix.

I=E2=80=99m going to send an email like this every week from now on until t=
he
release happens.

zw